Refined by:

Pursuant to the instructions contained in the motion to recommit, Mr. Gordon reported the amendment back to the House and demanded that the question on adoption of the amendment be divided among its nine separate parts. Subsequently, the Chair announced that the question would be divided and that the question would be put on each of the amendment's portions in their turn. The first portion of the divided question sought to strike section 228 (relating to prize awards.) The second portion of the divided question sought to strike sections 406(b) and (c) (relating to manufacturing extension partnership). The third portion of the divided question sought to strike section 502 (relating to federal loan guarantees for innovative technologies in manufacturing.) The fourth portion of the divided question sought to strike section 503 (relating to regional innovation program.) The fifth portion of the divided question sought to strike subtitle C of title VI (relating to Energy Innovation Hubs). The sixth portion of the divided question sought to amend section 702 (relating to persons with disabilities.) The seventh portion o. the divided question added a section 704 (prohibiting use of funds for salaries for viewing pornography.) The eighth portion of the divided question added a section 705 (relating to ineligibility for awards or grants.) The ninth portion of the divided question sought to add a section 706 (relating to alternative authorizations.)

Amendment provides Department of Energy with the authority to conduct training for energy auditors, field technicians, and building contractors so they can understand and promote the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology.

Page 127, after line 13, insert the following new section: SEC. 256. SENSE OF CONGRESS. It is the sense of Congress that retaining graduate-level talent trained at American universities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields is critical to enhancing the competitiveness of American businesses.

Amendment requires the Director of the National Science Foundation to give consideration to the goal of promoting the participation of veterans in the postdoctoral research fellowship program established by section 246 (Postdoctoral research fellowships).

Amendment clarifies that one purpose of the Innovation through Institutional Integration grant program is to help under-represented students in STEM fields transition from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions of higher education.

Amendment directs the National Science Foundation to establish the Green Chemistry Basic Research and Development program and provide merit-based grants to support green chemistry applications. Green chemistry is chemistry that involves the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances, and it focuses on preventing pollution and waste from forming in the first place.

Amendment requires the STEM coordinating committee under OSTP to describe the approaches that will be taken by each agency to conduct outreach designed to promote widespread public understanding of career opportunities in the STEM fields. The amendment also requires the establishment and maintenance of a publicly accessible online database of all federally sponsored STEM education programs.

Amendment requires public institutions of higher education, with respect to employees who are represented by labor organizations and who work on activities or programs supported by this Act, to maintain a policy to respond to union information requests, for information to which the union is legally entitled, on a timely basis in order to be eligible to receive facilities and administrative costs provided by any of the funding sources authorized by this Act. Failure to comply with such a policy results in suspension of payments to the institution for facilities and administrative costs until compliance is achieved.

Amendment establishes a program to support the development and commercial application of clean energy technologies through a Clean Energy Consortium selected competitively by the Secretary of Energy. The Consortium would be regionally based and include research universities, national labs, industry, and other state and nongovernmental organizations with research or technology transfer expertise in clean energy technology. The Consortium would have a technology focus to which at least 50 percent of support would be directed. The grant to establish and operate the Consortium is for an amount not more than $10,000,000 per year and is for a period not to exceed 3 years.

Amendment ensures that students enrolled in two-year, certificate, associate, or baccalaureate programs are eligible for STEM programs. The amendment calls for a report of agency approaches to increase minority participation in STEM careers.

Amendment makes technical and clarifying changes to the bill. Amendment also amends Section 243 ("Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program") and Section 702 ("Persons with Disabilities"), and add new Sections 412 ("Report On the Use of Modeling and Simulation") and Section 704 ("Budgetary Effects"), Section 705 ("Limitation"), and Section 706 ("Prohibition on Lobbying"), among other changes.